The Geek Squad
by SassyJ
Summary: AU. Tim McGee has been a special agent with the MCRT for nearly four years and matters have still not improved. When McGee's mentors hit town and McGee becomes part of a major computer project, he starts to wonder about his choices. His friends show him the life he could have, and the question is not so much will he go, as why would he stay?
1. Chapter 1

Tim McGee put his hand on his keyboard, and realized a second too late the reason for DiNozzo's smug look. _Dammit_.

_Three years_. Tim had been putting up with DiNozzo and Kate Todd for three whole years, and he had just about had enough. On good days, they were fine, and Kate was even kind to him.

On bad days, and this one was obviously going to be one of those, his job was hell on earth. His team mates never lost an opportunity to taunt him and set him up. Tim gently pushed back on his chair and reached across his body with his other hand to pull his top drawer open.

His second mistake, as his fingers bonded to the handle. Tim sighed for a second, any day but today. His mentors would be at NCIS, a top level meeting with Director Sheppard and some trouble-shooting on a computer system that was classified. Tim had done a little work on it. The very last thing he wanted to do would be to look stupid in front of Nic and Henri, who had given him his first scholarship.

"What's the matter, Probie?"

He looked up at the snort, Tony's grin was ear to ear, the taunting words already dripping out of his mouth. The disdain took Tim to a place he really didn't want to go. Miserably he yanked back on his hand, tearing his skin. Shaking his sore fingers he pried open his drawer and pulled out the solvent and cotton buds he kept there. A few minutes and he freed himself, and stalked to the men's washroom to wash his hands and check his fingers for damage.

Tony DiNozzo settled back in his seat. The prank was priceless, the look on McGee's face as he realized he was stuck.

Tony leaned back with a smile. A Probie pranked and all was right with the world.

Kate looked up from her desk. "You are a pig, DiNozzo."

Tony wasn't sweating it, there was a smile in her voice and that told him she was just as amused at Probie's naivety as he was. McGee was just the perfect patsy. "I didn't see you objecting too hard."

Kate had to admit that Tim was soft. Too soft for his own good. He needed to wise up to DiNozzo and learn to stand on his own two feet.

Neither of them noticed that they were being watched from above.

[][][][][][][][]

Tim washed his hands, his fingertips were sore, but no real damage had been done luckily. He certainly didn't want his mentors and friends Nic and Henri to see him hurt. It was bad enough that the unnecessary stresses of Tim's job had already been a topic of conversation amongst Tim and his geek friends.

Dammit. He almost slammed his hand into the washbasin's shiny surface. He had let his guard down once already. Shown his mentors the reality of his day to day situation and they were already horrified.

Henri had vowed that Tim would come and work for them, and Tim had to admit to himself that the salary that Nic had offered him was breathtaking. But Tim's heart was with what he was already doing.

The difference was simple, and devastating in its own way, Nic and Henri respected his choices and gave him the freedom to choose. He had chosen to stay with NCIS on the MCRT. They had supported his decision, and Henri had even thrown a few minor coding projects his way as a sort of bonus.

[][][][][][][][]

Dr Dominic Fairchild stood on the landing above and watched the interaction between his friend and mentee, and the rest of the man's team. He had seen the whole incident. Superglue? Nic formed his own opinions very quickly, Tim's senior agent was immature, and something very close to a playground bully. The woman agent was no better. Nic had seen her smile at the agent Dinozzo's antics and her complete lack of support or compassion for her younger team mate.

Nic was just grateful that his partner was not there to see it. Henri would have lost his temper and ripped them both a new one.

In Henri Drax's eyes, Timothy McGee could do no wrong.

Nic sighed, Henri's support for Tim was unwavering, and perhaps a little obsessive.

Nic and Henri had first met Tim when he was sixteen and an early admissions candidate for MIT. They had also met his father.

It was the unfortunate incident with the cup of coffee, Henri's beloved little brother Pierre, and the Admiral that had firmly marked Tim out as the future recipient of Fairchild and Drax's first study scholarship. Pierre was a sweet, gentle, biddable child, an accident of birth had left him developmentally slow. It was Pierre's misfortune to accidentally jog the Admiral's elbow. The coffee spilled, and the furious admiral rounded on Pierre. Shouted at him. Which was when Tim had stepped in and stood up for Pierre against his father. Henri and Nic had returned from a brief meeting prior to interviewing the candidates and had been witness to the shouting and Tim's defence of Pierre.

Nic sighed again, this job was going to be a hard one. He and Henri were giving their time for the nominal sum of a dollar. Which was fine, and endeared them to to the top brass. Sadly, in Nic's discussions with SecNav it had come to light that Admiral McGee was part of the project team.

As Nic was very quick to point out, Dr Henri Drax's dislike of fools in general, and Admiral Robert McGee in particular, was going to make this project volatile at best. Privately Nic doubted that even the closeness of almost thirty years of friendship and partnership was going to keep the lid on Henri's mercurial temper.

There was one bright spot, it worked in their favour that the Admiral, while something of an arrogant fool, was also a toady. Nic's own Boston Brahmin background impressed the man, but Henri's ancient, noble antecedents reduced him to servile boot licking. Something that Henri did not hesitate to exploit.

Nic rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. The project, the formal engagements, the weekend that he and Henri had planned with their friends, offset by the hierarchy and the personalities. A minefield, it would be Nic's job to negotiate the minefield, while keeping the disparate parts of the project in their simple but loose alliance. Round them all up and keep them travelling in the right direction.

_A piece of cake!_ Nic wondered if he had enough Advil.

[][][][][][][][]

Henri Drax leaned casually against the back wall of the elevator and watched the lights on the indicator board. Pierre was with his trusted secretary, because Henri wanted to see Tim and his teammates in action. Nic might have believed that they were just leaving it all up to Tim, but Henri was not about to leave his young friend unprotected. He had a few friends scattered through NCIS, some of them even on investigative teams that shared a floor with MCRT, and Henri had disturbing reports from two separate sources on that floor, and one in Cybercrimes, that Tim McGee was being disrespected by his teammates, and his boss was doing nothing effective about it.

Hell, even the lab-rat was giving him a hard time. Apparently the woman had a bee in her bonnet about Tim having been to MIT.

Henri had promised Nic that he would not interfere, nor would he try to charm and otherwise schmooze Tim into taking the job with them.

But that did not mean that he wasn't going to provide Tim with some very visible high level support. He had been photographed enough over the years, many newspaper and magazine articles had made a considerable fuss over his eligible bachelor status, even someone as self-absorbed as Anthony DiNozzo was going to recognize Dr Henri Drax.

Showing his teammates that Tim was not unprotected and had the support of his friends, perhaps would persuade the older agent to back off.

The elevator arrived at its destination and Henri straightened up, pinned his best 'schmooze the natives' smile on his face and exited onto the bullpen floor.

[][][][][][][][]

Tim dried his hands carefully, studied the two nasty raw patches on the index and ring fingers on his left hand and scowled. He had seriously had enough of this crap. Nic and Henri had offered him a job, huge money, good friends that he admired and respected to work for, no one to razz him, poke fun at almost everything about his personal life and most importantly no one to invade his privacy on almost a daily basis.

He hated feeling like this. He knew he would love working with his friends, they would offer him everything he could ever ask for in the way of opportunities and a fantastic work environment. But he had worked so hard to get where he was. MCRT was a huge feather in his cap, and Timothy McGee was a great deal more ambitious than his self-effacing exterior suggested.

[][][][][][][][]

Tony DiNozzo's alpha male threat radar was pinging. The tall, lean and handsome man swaggering into his personal space with the kind of confidence one is born with was enough to pull him off balance.

The guy seemed kind of familiar too.

"Can I help you?" Tony was on his feet, irritably aware that Kate had also picked up on the handsome stranger in their midst and was making her way back to them.

The stranger glanced around, "Tim McGee?"

The accent was not American, it had overtones of North American, so Tony was guessing Canada, and was about to ask more questions when a shout of "HENRI!" came from behind him, and the stranger's smile widened "TIM."

Tony spun around, decidedly off-kilter as he was ignored in a surge of matey hugging and back slapping as Tony's Probie co-worker trampled on the hierarchy carelessly.

"It's so good to see you." Probie sounded really excited, which also pinged on Tony's radar, probies were supposed to be anxious and careful around senior agents, that his probie suddenly wasn't was something new and troubling to Tony.

McGee being an admiral's son, Tony knew exactly everything he needed to about Tim McGee, it made sense that he knew some people of wealth and consequence. But this? Tony was no fool, he knew expensive, made to measure suiting when he saw it. Henri's silver-grey suit was beautifully cut and fit his lean frame perfectly, the shirt was silk, the skinny grey tie a perfect two shades darker than the suit material, the shirt cuffs showed the requisite half inch at the end of the suit sleeves, and there was a glimpse of bracelets beneath, both wrists, looked silver in colour but were probably white gold or platinum, Tony glanced down, black ostrich boots, heavy buckle in silver. Tony knew his designers, and everything this guy was wearing screamed serious money.

_Henri_. That name was starting to ring bells in Tony's slightly overheated brain as he watched his probie being more animated than Tony thought he had ever seen McGoo.

"Tim, aren't you going to introduce us?" It was on the tip of Tony's tongue to ask that question, and he turned, annoyed that Kate had beat him to it.

"Yeah, Tim." Tony echoed weakily. This whole thing was pulling him off balance.

The interloper turned, "Henri Drax… m'sieur." Slim hand extended, Tony took it in a daze as it hit him like a ton of bricks. Images tumbled through his mind, the amber eyes, like a cat, the lean figure, the strength in the grip of the man's hand. The accent. Dr Henri Drax, Chevalier d'Aubray, father French nobility, mother French-Canadian, practically royalty herself, Henri the middle son of three, the brilliant one, partnered up with Dominic Fairchild right out of MIT, made millions. Everything they touched turned to gold. Some tragedy in Drax's past, and the man never married. Making him the most eligible bachelor that anyone, including Kate Todd, was ever likely to meet.

He was holding her hand. Tony could feel the guy's magnetism from five feet away. And something rocketed through him right then. An unusual feeling.

Tony shook his head. Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo did not do jealousy.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony DiNozzo was discovering that yes, he did do jealousy.

He figured that it had to be a one off, McGoo's geek friend with the beautiful clothes and the trim athletic body, the man had sat down on a chair next to McGeek's desk and not a spare ounce of flesh overflowed his belt. The dancer's grace with which he moved, and the way his clothes skimmed his body, Tony would bet any money that the butter-soft silk shirt covered rock-hard abs.

Geeks were supposed to be pasty and a bit soft, not lean, trim, and incredibly handsome with a soft sensual voice and a beautiful accent which was doing all sorts of things that Tony didn't like to the women in the room.

So he figured the partner would fit the geek mould better and all would come back right with the world.

Dr Dominic Fairchild was tall, dark and handsome. More heavily built than his partner, but still lean and trim. Impeccably dressed, perhaps more conservatively than the Frenchman, but if that dark grey suit cost less than five thousand dollars Tony had lost his touch.

So perhaps the partner was less enamored of McGeek. Tony watched for signs that McProbie might be less than welcome.

The way they both hugged him and talked animatedly to him, that one was a bust too.

[][][][][][][][]

He was officially in hell. Sitting in a restaurant, at a dinner table with his team and McGeek's friends.

An expensive Georgetown restaurant, the kind that Tony liked to frequent, Drs Fairchild and Drax moved through the restaurant in the lead, with the kind of social ease that comes from old patrician families and supreme inner confidence. Drax had abandoned the suit in favor of skinny levis and a dark check shirt with a navy blazer, Fairchild also wore jeans with a green tee shirt and a gray sweater over.

Tony gritted his teeth. Fornell had shown up, with his beautiful sidekick, Ziva David. Late of MOSSAD, she had become a US citizen and an FBI agent and however much he detested the FBI, Tony had been attempting to get a date with her for weeks.

Now the object of his desires, and his female partner were both being charmed by McGee's friends and Tony was out in the cold.

What made it worse, there were two of Drax. If anything the younger one, or Tony assumed he was younger, less grey in his hair, no lines on his face, was even more stunningly handsome than Henri himself. What was weird was how protective Drax, Fairchild and McGee seemed to be with him.

DiNozzo used getting the next round of drinks ploy to get a little closer. Having got the orders from a few of their group, Tony turned his attention to the younger Drax, "what would you like?"

The cat-like amber eyes turned to Tony, a slightly puzzled frown crossed the handsome young face, and in that moment DiNozzo understood exactly what Henri Drax's mystery family tragedy was. It was quite a shock.

A very awkward moment when DiNozzo faltered, and Henri looked round with a flash of something that looked very much like anger and panic, Tim stepped in to cover. "Pierre likes juice. Orange or cranberry, thanks Tony." He put his arm around Pierre's shoulders in a protective gesture.

There was an edge of steel to McGee's tone that Tony had never heard before. He looked up, McGee's face was perfectly neutral, but there was a hard look in his eyes that subtly suggested DiNozzo should watch his tongue.

Not necessary. Tony DiNozzo might be a loud-mouth who had trouble knowing when to stop, but hurting someone clearly as damaged as Pierre Drax was evil in anyone's language. It hurt Tony that McGee could think that of him. Hurt and off-balance, Tony was starting to feel resentful.

Ziva David picked up on the flash of panic in Henri Drax's eyes when DiNozzo spoke to Pierre. She had met Henri several times in the course of the last year, they had enjoyed dinner and several very flirtatious dates, and when Henri had called to invite her and her boss, Fornell, to this gathering she was well aware that he was attempting to introduce her to his little brother. The next step to a much more serious relationship.

Seeing Henri less than suave and confident sparked something deep and nurturing in Ziva. She knew the truth about the long ago girl who had broken Henri's heart, and why. He loved Pierre so fiercely, which was why McGee could do no wrong in Henri's eyes.

After Ziva's unfortunate experience with CIA-Ray, Henri Drax's charm and gentle consideration was a soothing balm to Ziva's soul. She knew that Henri was deeply fond of Tim McGee and worried about the treatment he received at the hands of the bull-headed Gibbs, the immature and arrogant DiNozzo, the arrogant and selfish Kate Todd.

She would bring peace to her lover's soul, and they would make a home together with Pierre, and Ziva would do her best to win McGee for the FBI.

If only the immature DiNozzo would stop trying to flirt with her, and his selfish partner Kate would stop trying to flirt with her Henri.

[][][][][][][][]

The meal was elegant and expensive, and the exact opposite of Gibbs' usual fare. It was nice to dine out once in a while, but Gibbs couldn't shake himself of the feeling that the undercurrents flowing around the table were very dangerous waters indeed.

He couldn't remember a time he had seen Tim McGee so relaxed and happy. It shouldn't have concerned him, but it did. Tim so animated, chatting happily with Drax and Fairchild, and Drax's younger brother, Pierre; ignoring Tony's increasingly obvious attempts to get more attention on himself, barely glancing towards Kate.

It dawned on Gibbs that Tim McGee didn't need to do what he did. Despite Admiral McGee's disappointment in his son, Tim was brilliant. He didn't have to be at NCIS, drawing a lowly Government paycheck when he could be out there with the big boys, in his element. It was obvious to Gibbs that Fairchild and Drax not only respected McGee, they were very fond of him. Barely even a decade between McGee and the partners who were his mentors, they were almost bound to be close.

These guys cared and they respected him, and they understood him. Gibbs thought about the number of times that he had cut McGee off mid-explanation. Indifferent to what McGee was telling him, just interested in the explanation or the short cut. Tony's pranks, Kate oscillating between being McGee's protector, and joining in on Tony's pranks and jokes.

For the first time Gibbs had a glimpse of a reality that he didn't like. A reality where Tim McGee gave up on the team who cared so little for his contributions to the investigations and decided to join another team, or make his way in a private sector that would give him everything he deserved.

Tim's brilliant mind needed positive encouragement to flourish.

Then Fornell's Girl Friday, Ziva David moved in to the space next to Henri Drax and the balance shifted again.

Gibbs had known Tobias Fornell for a long time, they shared a mutual ex-wife, and he was well aware of the FBI Agent's interest in Tim McGee. McGee had met Ziva on several occasions and the Israeli had always been kind and respectful towards him. This project was high profile. Several agencies, both civilian and military, involved. Gibbs suddenly realised that McGee _was_ going to shine, and when he did, there was a whole alphabet soup of agencies, and several big business organizations, would move in on his agent.

Gibbs did not like to lose. Until this night he had never really believed that he would.

[][][][][][][][]

Dominic Fairchild watched his partner with concern. Henri was mercurial at the best of times, but the pressure of the project, the new lady in his life, and the knowledge that Admiral McGee was involved in the project, his hyper-awareness of McGee's team and the pranks, even down to his jumpiness over his brother. At this rate Henri was going to fret himself into a nervous breakdown.

Even Pierre had picked up on Henri's nervousness. Nic watched the younger Drax watch his brother. People were quick to label Pierre as slow, and it was true that the accident at his birth had left him with challenges to overcome, but Pierre was sensitive and loving. He couldn't put that love into words, but Nic watched as Pierre spontaneously hugged his brother, and saw Henri visibly settle.

Nic approved of Henri's new girlfriend. She was as smart as she was beautiful, and gentle and kind with Pierre. After the disaster that was Henri's college crush, the nightmare that at the time Nic had believed that he stood to lose his partner and best friend, and his best friend's little brother; Henri's girlfriend had tried to remove Pierre from the competition for her boyfriend's affections.

Nic hoped with all his heart that his friend had finally found true happiness. Being a surrogate uncle and godfather to Nic's children was one thing, Henri deserved a life and a family of his own.

[][][][][][][][]

Katie Todd watched as Tony simmered on the edge of the group. He was used to being the life and soul of the party, the one always at the centre of every group, and now he was marginalized and he didn't like it.

Kate wasn't all that happy herself. Her recent adventures in dating had done nothing to improve her social life. Dating one of DiNozzo's college roomies had been a huge mistake. She felt as though life was passing her by.

A feeling made worse by the near miss on the factory roof that day. Ari Haswari had tried to kill her. Only a chance stumble over a piece of loose shale on the factory roof had dropped her out of harm's way. Never had falling on your face seemed so providential.

The whole situation had unsettled her, unsettled Tony, even McGee had been affected; even though Tony was convinced that McGee had never been in any danger.

Kate supposed she wasn't being very fair to McGee. It was hardly his fault that he had been behind the car. If he had died, she would have been devastated. It was just that this was McGee and…

She really didn't know how to finish that sentence.

And that bothered her more than she was prepared to admit.

[][][][][][][][]

McGee looked around the room at the people. On the eve of the biggest delivery of his life, his coding was perfect, he should be happy.

He was. That Nic and Henri were there to share his triumph, that finally his father might see the goods pay off.

Tim McGee had long since given up the idea that the Admiral might be proud, but in front of such overwhelming evidence, surely he might see some value in his son's work.


	3. Chapter 3

It was 6am, and Tim was in the office over an hour early. Time to run a few little tests before his presentation to the group. If Tim was excited, surely that was only natural. This was a good group, several high ranking officers, the Sec-Nav himself, a few businessmen. Tim McGee's opportunity to show what he could do.

Somewhere in the middle of his excitement he had time to wonder why it was that his job didn't make him feel anywhere near as excited as creating a small batch of code. He didn't even feel like he was helping people any more.

At first Tim was happy to accept that he would have a lot of the boring desk duties, he was nowhere near as experienced as Tony, or Kate. But as time went on he started to wonder when he was going to get his chance in the field. In fact, it seemed with each new hack job, or bank trace, or identity check his world got a little smaller.

He set up, and started his little programme running. It would fit with Henri's code, and that pleased Tim. Henri, apart from being his friend, was one of the most gifted coders in the world. He wrote strings of beautiful, refined, elegant code and Tim had learned so much from him even in the few weeks they had been trading messages on the project.

Tim loved that his work dovetailed perfectly with Henri's incredibly advanced and beautiful work. It felt so good.

Director Shepherd passed by McGee's desk. "Tim." She practically purred and Tim could feel the red rushing to his cheeks. Jenny Shepherd made Tim McGee feel rather uncomfortable. He couldn't put his finger on it, but she had been an old flame of Gibbs, and whatever it was, she goosed the hairs on the back of his neck. Tim had a tendency to become tongue-tied around her, which didn't help.

"Director." Tim was always exceedingly polite. She liked that, better still she liked the kudos that she would reap from Tim's involvement in this project. Although she could have done without Drs Fairchild and Drax, and their insinuations that she did not run a fair outfit. McGee was good; with computers, he fit the modern office nicely, but the main work would always be done by real investigators like DiNozzo and Todd. They were the field agents.

It irked her a little that she couldn't afford to entirely ignore Fairchild and Drax. They were old money, and had grown new money on top of the old, but they still had connections that ran deep into the heart of governments, and throughout some of the biggest and most powerful companies in North America.

So she had to make extra nice with Tim. Maybe she would speak with Jethro later about McGee getting out in the field more. The young man seemed to crave it. Although Jenny was surprised he hadn't wanted Cybercrimes. They seemed a much more natural fit.

Jenny glanced up and saw Sec-Nav and a couple of the top brass on the landing above the bullpen. "McGee, with me." Now was the time to bask in a little reflective glory.

McGee grabbed his jacket, and was reaching for the mouse to close out his program. "Leave that," the Director snapped, "come now."

It was early, no one was around, "you will only be a few minutes." McGee didn't want to disobey the Director. So he walked away from his desk, leaving his program running.

[][][][][][][][]

Tony DiNozzo stepped off the elevator. It was a good day, he was first in to work, he liked to flaunt that in front of McGee and Kate. Especially McGee. Rub in the point that he was the dedicated Senior Field Agent, and that McGee should look up to him.

Everything was right with his world until he realised that McGee's daypack was under his desk, and the geek's computer was on.

After the night before, DiNozzo had had enough of being second. He had seen McGee basking in the attention his friends were giving him, and that was wrong. Probies came last. As Senior Field Agent, DiNozzo was due all the attention, with only the scraps left over for the geek.

DiNozzo knew that Kate would agree with him. He had seen her brooding at Drax's definite interest in Ziva David. Something else that bothered Tony. Hot chicks like Ziva belonged with hot guys like Tony, not geeks like Drax or McGee. Probie needed to know who was boss.

Tony slipped over to McGee's desk and sat down. Some kind of program was sitting there on the desktop, open and running. _Probably some kind of search_, Tony smirked. He wasn't a computer genius, but he could still operate one, so there was a prompt, just there waiting. McGee needed to learn a lesson about the pecking order. Tony typed in a string of gibberish, and hit return.

He had an inkling that the program wasn't a search when things began to change very rapidly on the screen. _Shit._ Tony tried to delete, but nothing was happening. He could hear voices on the landing above the bullpen, and he didn't want to be caught, so he slipped back to his own desk.

[][][][][][][][]

Tim really wanted to get back to his program, he had no interest in politics, and Director Sheppard's interest in him was only for the reflected kudos, he really didn't need this. He managed to get the chance to slip away as they were all headed off on the VIP tour. Director Sheppard liked showing off her kingdom, just like she liked keeping her fingers in the investigative pie. Something that bothered Gibbs no end.

DiNozzo and Kate were both at their desks by the time he got back. "Morning." Tim greeted them as he sat down. Kate smiled and said "good morning," but Tony's eyes skittered sideways and the "morning" was most grudging.

Something about Tony's morning greeting raised the hairs on Tim's neck. He reached for his mouse and the screen revealed itself.

Tim moaned in horror. Hours and hours of work. Frantically he halted the program, someone had typed in a line of nonsense in at the prompt and set the program to run, the parameters were all screwed up.

He shot a look at DiNozzo, caught the tail end of the Senior Agent's smirk. He could do something. Yell at DiNozzo. He guessed it showed how far he had fallen that even shouting at DiNozzo for doing exactly the kind of thing that DiNozzo had been doing to him for the last three years, held no interest for him. Why was he putting up with this. Nic had reintroduced his offer during drinks before dinner. Upped it. Named a figure which almost made McGee splurt his drink all over the bar top.

Suddenly McGee could see a different future. Working with Henri, the coding genius that Tim most admired, and Nic, the business genius who had created a company renowned for its great work ethic and sound principles.

As he stared at his screen, Tim wondered why he was still doing this, he could be working with people who respected him and admired him, doing real good amongst workers who all had the same aims and dreams.

But he loved his job. He had worked so hard to get accepted as a Field Agent, to get transferred in to MCRT, that was a huge feather in his cap. He _was_ a Field Agent, and okay, maybe he wound up behind a computer screen ninety percent of the time, but that was where Gibbs thought he was most effective. He went out into the field…

Tim shook himself, pulled himself together with an effort. None of that mattered right then, he had to get himself organized, because he had three hours to fix it.

[][][][][][][][]

Nic thought Henri was going to blow his stack. His partner's jaw was clenched so hard Nic could hear Henri's molars grinding. Admiral Robert McGee was speaking. That was enough to send anyone to sleep, the Admiral was a pedantic bore, but however dull the man was and however unimaginative he excelled in one tiny area. Logistics. That was good enough to get him into the project. Unfortunately.

Henri had scratched a few irritable notes into his pad, but quickly lost interest. Nic knew he was storing up every word the Admiral said. All to be regurgitated at a later date, pointing out exactly where the Admiral was dead wrong.

Nic sighed.

Tim slipped into the conference room and quietly took a seat next to Nic.

Nic picked up the tension in Tim's body. "What's up?"

The look on the younger man's face was sad and stressed. "Something's up with my code."

Nic didn't waste time. "What do you need?"

Tim swallowed. "Another pair of hands on a keyboard?!"

"Mine or Henri's?"

Tim actually blushed. "Henri's…"

Nic smiled and patted his young friend's shoulder. "Done." He leaned over and whispered in his partner's ear. The three of them moved quietly and discreetly away from the table and slipped out of the room.

"Thank you." Tim hated that he had to ask for help, but he would never be done in time for the presentation, and he was even more disturbed at the thought of letting people down.

Henri put his hand on Tim's shoulder and squeezed. "Our pleasure, Tim." He exchanged glances with his partner, Tim closed his eyes and sighed.

For a moment, Nic Fairchild said nothing. He had a feeling he knew the answer to their latest problem anyway. He turned away, almost at the point of letting the matter lie. He turned back. "Tim, what happened?"

He could tell by the way Tim's back tensed, and his shoulders slumped that this was one more case of Tim's co-workers deeming Tim and his work of no significance.

Tim turned around, Nic read the sad look on his face and nodded. Unwilling to make Tim voice the problem, as though speaking out loud would somehow make the matter worse. He quietly vowed to himself that he would make a higher offer for Tim, and a better job specification. Something that suited Tim McGee's undoubted gifts as well as his need to help people.

Nic smirked, appreciating the irony of his proposed actions. Henri was the meddler, yet so far he had managed to keep his hands out of Tim's affairs. It was Nic who was planning an intervention.

[][][][][][][][]

Tim's reappearance in the bullpen with Henri at his side, and the way they barely acknowledged Tim's team, before getting stuck into what was obviously some serious work had the fine hairs on the back of Gibbs' neck quivering.

Something was up. Gibbs shot a glance across at Tony. DiNozzo could be an idiot, especially if he thought he wasn't the centre of attention. It didn't exactly take the finest investigation skills to work out that Tony had done something. Gibbs hoped that it wasn't something to the work that Tim was doing for this project.

Tim's harsh glare in DiNozzo's direction dashed that hope.

Watching Henri Drax's fingers flying over the laptop keyboard, sitting next to Tim at the young agent's desk, Gibbs sighed inwardly. Drax was the same age as Tony, yet so much more balanced and mature, giving Tim support and encouragement.

Exactly what Tony should be doing.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs could sense a serious talking-to in Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's future, before Tony's insecurity and jealousy blew everything out of proportion. It occurred to Gibbs that it wouldn't hurt to actually make connections with Tim's friends. So far Team Gibbs had not exactly shown itself in a good light, reminding Tim why he wanted to be an NCIS Field Agent might be a good move. Appeasing Tim's influential friends was the first step.

Tim was typing fast, he would never be Henri's speed, but he could pull code out of the air at speed. True, it would also never quite match Henri's code in elegance and symmetry, but he was still good. The happy grin on Henri's face as they raced through the re-work reminded Tim why he loved coding with his friend so much.

They were in-sync. He had coded with Nic, but this was a lot slower, more thoughtful. Nic was the business manager. Henri was the technical genius. Tim was close to both of them.

Working with Henri, even if it was only a quick fix, felt good.


	4. Chapter 4

Tim McGee leaned back in his chair and sighed. Two weeks until his next deliverable, and thanks to the save by Henri he was back on track and moving forward nicely.

Things had been so much better since Nic and Henri were working with him. Their small satellite office in DC was base of operations, and Tim spent several hours every day working on the Naval project with them. Director Shepherd had farmed out most of Tim's cyber duties to the Cybercrimes unit, leaving him only the complex work and his field-work.

He had been excused cold cases to free him up for his work on the project. Curiously with Gibbs' blessing. McGee was stunned. Every mention of the technology that he loved normally met with a Gibbs' brush off. Now the man was actively encouraging him?

Yeah. Right.

The only possible conclusion that Tim could draw was that Gibbs' some how knew of the contents of a letter that was sitting in his pocket.

His formal offer from Fairchild Drax Industries. It outlined a job that made Tim's senses swim and his heart do happy jumps, the salary was enormous, with stock options, and still offered him the opportunity to go out in the field and help people.

It couldn't have been more perfect if Nic and Henri had sat down and conjured it out of thin air.

Tim suspected that this was exactly what they had done. He was beyond elated, this was the dream job, the once in a lifetime opportunity, he would be working with brilliant minds, and good friends.

He sighed. He would miss MCRT. But, his potential would never be more than stifled there, and working at Fairchild Drax he would still have contact with the Navy. In fact all the services, and the law enforcement agencies. He would really get to make a difference, and help keep servicemen and women safe.

He put the offer letter in his pocket, next to his resignation letter. It had been a difficult decision, but he knew he was making the right one. Perhaps Kate and Tony might learn to respect him a little. He hoped so. His new role would bring him into contact with various agencies in the field.

[][][][][][][][]

It was the look on McGeek's face that pinged all of Tony's radar. The younger man looked elated, completely buzzed. He breezed in, stowed his backpack, put something inside his drawer and locked it, and then disappeared.

Tony wanted to know. Despite Kate's misgivings he slunk over to Probie's desk and picked the lock.

The letter was fat and squishy suggesting several folded sheets, the envelope expensive and had Fairchild Drax Industries emblazoned on the front. There was even a wax seal on the flap. DiNozzo's eyes widened, and he pulled the letter out.

"TONY!" Kate snapped, but quietly enough so that the rest of the bullpen wouldn't hear.

He made a brushing off gesture with his hand, and continued reading.

What he read made a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew that Tim McGee was brilliant, which in part was why Tony felt the need to play tricks, but this?

"What does it say?"

Tony's eyes widened as he read the stated salary. This had nothing to do with wealth, like his devious father had accumulated, and lost. This was all about worth, and Tony was struggling with his sense of self-worth.

It didn't matter how often he told himself that McGee was the Probie, stumbling around in the dark. McGee's brains and education could command a six figure salary, something that DiNozzo knew his Sports degree from Ohio State would never achieve.

Probie was smart and talented, and a lot more intuitive than Tony DiNozzo wanted to give him credit for… and Anthony DiNozzo Senior's little boy was as jealous as hell.

Being jealous sucked.

88—88—88

Tim dropped his resignation letter in the Director's outer office in-tray, knowing that Pamela, the secretary would get it to the right place. It felt good, if a little strange, but if he had learned anything in the last four months working with Gibbs and the team, it was that he was really not all that necessary to the successful functioning of Team Gibbs.

It had been so cripplingly disappointing. He had hoped that he would learn from Gibbs and the others, and while he had learned a lot, he felt they were still holding back on him. That maybe Gibbs didn't see him as a Field Operative.

Tim loved computers; Gibbs despised them, and the people who used them.

Tim joined MCRT because he wanted to make a difference. Now he was moving on to somewhere where he knew he would make a difference. Nic and Henri would let him run with his instincts.

He would be amongst friends, and the added bonus for Tim of reconnecting with Pierre again. Henri's little brother was one of the sweetest, most gentle people Tim had ever met.

88—88—88

Nic snatched the partially buttered croissant from his business partner's plate and bit in. "Ambrosia" he declared, checking for crumbs. Henri scowled a little.

"I know… I was just about to…"

"Stopping you getting fat." Nic grinned and patted his longtime friend's perfectly flat belly.

"What's put you in such a good mood." Henri's expression hardly changed, but Nic recognized the twinkle in his eyes.

"We have mail." Nic loved spinning this stuff out, teasing Henri's mercurial temper was fun. Henri reached for another croissant, keeping his hand half over it, he dipped his knife in the butter, only to realize that the jelly was mostly gone and his adored younger brother was grinning at him impishly.

It was moments like those that Henri cherished, as devastating as they were if he thought more deeply about them. "Pierre!"

His beloved little brother smiled. That sunny, innocent smile that Henri loved. Nic smirked and quietly swiped another piece of croissant. Henri and his older brother Patrice had fought like wild cats to have Pierre. Henri had only won when it became obvious that Patrice's job, the family estates and their ailing parents were going to occupy more of his time than would be good for Pierre.

So Pierre lived with Henri, and as Nic and Henri travelled the world for work, so Pierre went with them.

"We have mail?"

Nic pulled out a chair, snagged a plate and dipped into the bread basket for another croissant. "Tim."

"He's accepted?"

"Yeah."

Nic didn't need to be told that this pleased Henri mightily, the torrent of excited French, and the way his partner punched the air said more than enough.

"Pleased?" Nic slung an arm around Pierre's shoulders, "and you get to see more of your buddy Tim."

"Tim!" The catlike amber eyes, so like his older brother's smiled up a Nic.

"Yeah, Tim." It hurt sometimes that they had no way of making Pierre better. Nic hugged his partner's little brother close. Perhaps, just maybe one day they would find something. With Tim on board it could only be a help.


End file.
